Is there a god?

Wow, that's quite a question.

I'm guessing you realise providing a full answer to this question is impossible. Greater men have tried and failed.

Our perceptions and empirical sciences states there is no proof either way. Psychological theory states that God comes hand in hand with Consciousness, some sort of defense mechanism of a primitive mind trying to make sense of it all, to provide Meaning. Brain scans have shown a particular region of the brain that "awakens" when people have spiritual experiences, nicknamed the "God Spot", almost as if God created us with a biological facility for belief.

And on the other hand, we have religion and faith, practiced by about 99 percent of the world's population, in some way or another. It is kind of hard to argue that such a large portion of the world is suffering from some sort of delusion. 

And God itself, how do you define God? Are you speaking of an all powerful being that created our world and continues to govern it? Or just an intelligent set of governing rules that apply to the universe, a higher force? 

My opinion? I do not think humanity needs a God figure in order to be spiritual. This is the last step before fully realising we are nothing more than a mass of smart molecules, but that doesn't mean we aren't spiritual. Transcedence is possible without an God figure.

This shouldn't stop at a mere question/answer. This should continue into a debate.  

TalSh's answer was a good one. Respectful and moving in the right direction.

I'd go further though and state categorically that there is no god. Why?

Scientific: Occam's razor - god is a an additional complication and un-necessary extension to the assumptions required to explain the world as we find it.

Moral: Belief in god has been the single greatest cause of human misery in the world. Any god worth the name would be ashamed to exist.u

Psychological: Every issolated tribe has felt the need to invent god as TalSh says. But this points to the psychological human need for authority and for meaning. The fact that the forms of these invetions of god are as diverse as the inventors supports a view that god does not exist.

Logical: God is the answer to the question "what is the meaning of life". But that question makes no sense. Meaning is a human construct. Why should life have meaning? If you insist that it does have meaning, then god is the only answer. The question pre-supposes the answer.

Subjective Reality: God does exist. We all have a part of our inner being that is pure, sane to whom we turn in crisis. Each of us has his own god, who is omnipotent in our own lives. But let's not make the mistake of externalising this entity and then start forcing others to believe in him. Along this road lies George Bush.

Firstly, and not to start a flame war here, but very clearly 99% of the world do not believe in a god.  This is a fiction.  For a start China is communist and therefore wont believe in a god, not mention Japan or in fact anyone practicing Buddhism.

So, is there a god?  It depends what you mean and how you define such a question. 

If you mean, is there a white guy with a beard and a unnatural fixation for Jewish virgins and that you can take a deep breath and relax knowing in firm certainty that by believing one thing or another will set you up for the afterlife?; then no, probably not.

If you mean, some sort of super being that created the Universe (note caps on the U); then nobody knows for sure.  It is possible, but then so if everything you can imagine and quite a lot that you can not.  A great book for examining ideas about this is The Star Maker by Olaf Stapleton or perhaps the free online book "God's Debris" written by the Dilbert author Scott Adams.  They both show that when you get to a "power" of that "size" you could quite easily mistake it for a simple facet of nature or physics.

If however, you want cold hard scientific certainty or rigid philosophical arguments one way or the other, again nope.  Neither science nor Philosophy has successfully argued that there is or is not a god.  That is to say that arguments are in fact put forwards and laws formulated regarding standards of proof etc, but in the end they are only measuring what they know.  Not what they don't.  So here the answer is again "as far as we know" there isn't a God.  Why?  because of the lack of rigid evidence.

Edit for spelling. 

To answer the question, we must, in Kant's words, abolish knowledge, to make room for belief.

What Kant means by that is that the question of God is outside the scope of science. Science cannot prove or disprove faith, and God cannot prove or disprove science (in Kant's case, metaphysics). 

On this quintessential change in the history of the sciences and philosophy, Nietzsche later wrote his infamous madman's cry in The Gay Science. God is dead, not in the ontological sense, but in the sense that he no longer matters in the running of our world. You cannot rely on God to move the universe, to explain consciousness, to answer all the troubling questions a la medieval philosophy and up to and including Descarte, Leibnitz , Spinoza, etc. The dogmatic form of explanation is simply no longer sufficient.

So, once it's been established that the question of God is not a question which is dealt with through empirical science (putting aside for a minute the highly suspect "God of the Brain" theory), one needs to ask then what sort of answer would do?

To me it is obvious that no sort of answer can ever do right by all parties, but as in all matters of choice theories and beliefs, particularly in philosophy, it is considered prudent to assess the pros and cons of every philosophical stance. There are prices for accepting different perspectives, and it is worthy to weigh your choice-beliefs wisely.

Personaly, after weighing the positions, I have come to the conclusion that I prefer the cohrenece of a scientific POV. But not mere agnosticism or delayed judgment, but rather I preceive irrational belief as damaging to mankind. History is filled with horrors and attrocities readily done in the name of faith. I do not believe religion is the bedrock of our morality, quite the contrary.

In the words of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Steven Weinberg:

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things - that takes religion.  "

Yes, God exists.

Goodness, 384 views of this question so far, and I’m the first one to say it?

I can’t prove it to you, but I believe in God, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It’s true many horrible things have been done in the name of religion.  It’s true many people would prefer to live in a world free of God.  It’s also true that beautiful things have been done in the name of religion (many religions).  And it’s true that many people crave God’s grace.

God Bless You!

Yes, there is a God.  Have you ever looked at the clouds? The mountains? Or observed an animal giving birth? All of nature testifies to God's existance.  However, there is no proof great enough to prove God exists to those who do not want to believe it. Jesus says as much in Luke 16:31. Regardless of natures testimony, God reveals Himself to us through the Scriptures, His Word to us, that we might grow in faith and come to a closer relationship with Him. Please take the time to read what He has to say to you!

42.

Dear egrant,

I'd like to offer a more pragmatic answer to your question.

You should ask yourself two questions: (1) How would you deem, whether a definition of "God" is satisfactory? (2) How would you deem, whether a verdict on the matter of the existence of God is correct? Answers to both of these questions are prerequisite for you to be able to profit at all from answers to your original questions. Nobody can answer questions (1) and (2) for you except yourself. It may not be easy for you to answer these questions, but unless you do so, there is really no use in proceeding to finding answers to your original questions.

Now, "God" is a word, and you inquire of the meaning of this word. Words are rarely used out of context. Where have you encountered this word? Firstly, try to assemble a list of citations that use this word. Make sure, that each of these citations was made by a person who lives today, who you can address a letter to. Next, address a letter to those people, and ask them what *they* meant by "God" when they made those citations.

Suppose you receive a satisfactory answer from one of your correspondents, say "God is an XYZ". Now you'll want to know whether such an XYZ exist. You will need to address this question to somebody, possibly, but not necessarily, the one who provided you with this definition. The authority who you should consult depends really on the nature of the answer you receive to your first question, and on your answer to self-directed question (2) mentioned above.

Good luck!